Department for Transport

A1079

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he plans to take to ensure that dualling of the A1079 between Barnby Moor and Wilberfoss goes ahead; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones: The A1079 between Barnby Moor and Wilberfoss is a local road and as such is the responsibility of the East Riding of Yorkshire Council. I understand that this scheme has been identified as a priority by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, but it will be for the Council and the Local Enterprise Partnership to identify future funding opportunities.

Motor Vehicle Type Approval

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what changes the UK is discussing with its European partners to the EU Framework Directive in respect of commercial vehicle body building and conversion; what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals to amend UK law on this matter; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones: The European Commission published its proposal for a new framework on motor vehicle type approval on 27 January 2016 and formal discussions with European partners have not started yet. This new proposal sets out a number of changes to the type approval system to bolster oversight of those undertaking the testing and assessment of new vehicles. The Government will be pressing to ensure that any new measures are proportionate and cost effective. The Department for Transport will consult widely on the changes being proposed. I have no plans to amend UK law until changes to the EU Framework have been agreed.

Transport: Refrigeration

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he expects the first on-road UK trial of zero-emission transport refrigeration units to take place; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones: Certain zero emission technologies for transport refrigeration systems are already in use on the road. The UK industry has recently announced plans for on-road trials in 2016 of a new technology using a ‘liquid-air’ engine.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

UK Membership of EU

Mr Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the recital in paragraph one of section C of the revised version of the draft EU decision on a new settlement for the UK, what assessment he has made of whether the objectives of political integration enjoys wide support in the union.

Mr David Lidington: Holding answer received on 22 February 2016



There is clearly support in some governments within the European Union for further political integration, but there are other, more sceptical voices, too. The recital in paragraph one of section C makes clear that “the United Kingdom, in the light of the specific situation it has under the Treaties, is not committed to further political integration into the European Union”.

Religious Freedom

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reasons the Advisory Group on Freedom of Religion and Belief was not re-established after the 2015 General Election; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Lidington: Holding answer received on 23 February 2016



Since the General Election, we have adopted a new strategic approach to human rights, refocusing our work around three themes: democratic values and the rule of law; strengthening the rules-based international system; and human rights for a stable world. Our work on freedom of religion or belief is an integral part of each of these themes.The Advisory Group on Freedom of Religion or Belief, as with our other former thematic human rights advisory groups, provided important contributions to our policy and activities. Under our new approach, our thematic advisory groups remain part of the expert constituency to which we turn when designing and delivering human rights initiatives. For example, we involved members of the former Advisory Group on Freedom of Religion or Belief in a workshop on Christians in the Middle East that we held in November 2015. We put forward another expert to form part of the Independent Review Panel of the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund. We continue to convene regular meetings of the Foreign Secretary's Advisory Group on Human Rights to discuss a range of topics of interest to its members.

UK Membership of EU

Mr Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps have been taken during the Government's negotiations on the UK's membership of the EU to restore the UK's rebate to its full previous value.

Mr David Lidington: The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), has been clear that the four priorities of our renegotiations are: economic governance; competitiveness; sovereignty; and benefits to EU migrants.The EU budget financing system was agreed in 2013, when we secured an historic real-terms cut and protected the rebate. Parliament ratified that deal last year.

UK Membership of EU

Chris Heaton-Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress has been made on the options circulated by the President of the European Council on the UK's relationship with the EU.

Mr Philip Hammond: As The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) made clear in his statement to the House yesterday, the renegotiation deal delivers on the Government’s commitment to fix the problems with the EU that have frustrated people in the UK. It is legally binding, irreversible and delivers for the UK. The deal gives the UK the best of both worlds: in to the parts of Europe that work for us and out of those parts which don’t.

Africa: Overseas Trade

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent progress has been made on the High Level Prosperity Partnership in Africa.

James Duddridge: In 2013 we established high level prosperity partnerships with Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mozambique and Tanzania. They form the context within which the UK seeks to increase mutual prosperity and generate jobs.The recent appointment of The Rt Hon Baroness Northover as trade envoy for Angola, my Honourable Friend, the Member for Windsor, as trade envoy for Ghana and my Honourable Friend, the Member for Newbury, as trade envoy for Mozambique will further enhance these partnerships.Our commitment to these agreements is illustrated by regular high-level visits, totalling 14 in the last three years.

France: Immigration Controls

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his French counterpart on the Treaty of Le Touquet; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Lidington: The Le Touquet Treaty is crucial to maintaining the UK’s border security. We meet regularly with our French Counterparts to discuss border security issues and look forward to further cementing our close cooperation at the upcoming UK-France summit on 3 March.

Diego Garcia: Military Bases

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his US counterpart on the lease extension of the military base on Diego Garcia.

James Duddridge: We have been clear that we want to see US presence continue. However, the Government has not yet held discussions with the US about continuing the agreement relating to Diego Garcia.

Israel: Christianity

Ms Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of attacks on Christian places of worship in Israel in each of the last three years.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The ‘Registry of Attacks on Holy Sites in the Holy Land’ has listed 22 cases of vandalism and arson on Christian places of worship in Israel and the West Bank since February 2013, most recently vandalism against the Dormition Abbey compound on 17 January. We condemn all such attacks.

Commonwealth

Chris Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to promote trade and diplomatic connections between the UK and other Commonwealth countries.

Mr Hugo Swire: The UK is committed to strengthening its engagement with the Commonwealth. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) led a strong delegation to the Commonwealth summit in November, where the Minister of State for Trade and Investment, my noble Friend, the right hon. Lord Maude and I promoted trade opportunities within the Commonwealth.

UK Membership of EU

Kelly Tolhurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the outcome of discussions at the February 2016 European Council on the UK's relationship with the EU.

Mr Philip Hammond: As The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) made clear in his statement to the House yesterday, the renegotiation deal delivers on the Government’s commitment to fix the problems with the EU that have frustrated people in the UK. It is legally binding, irreversible and delivers for the UK. The deal gives the UK the best of both worlds: in to the parts of Europe that work for us and out of those parts which don’t.

India: Foreign Relations

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the strength of diplomatic and economic relations between India and the UK.

Mr Philip Hammond: As, respectively, the world’s oldest and largest democracies, the United Kingdom and India have a strong friendship, which Prime Minister Modi’s visit has enhanced. We continue to work together to strengthen our defence and security partnership and expand trade and investment.

Iran: Nuclear Power

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress has been made on the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran.

Mr Philip Hammond: The Government is committed to the success of the nuclear deal and we welcome the steps taken by Iran to comply - including decommissioning centrifuges and removing the core from Arak and exporting 90+% of its stock of enriched uranium - leading to Implementation Day on 16 January. We fully support expanding our trade relationship with Iran and are encouraging businesses to take advantage of the new opportunities that are available. Foreign Minister Zarif’s recent visit to London marked a significant step in our relationship with Iran.

Bahrain: Human Rights

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the human rights situation in Bahrain.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We continue to encourage the Government of Bahrain to meet its human rights obligations and to honour all conventions to which it is a party. We welcome the progress made by Bahrain on their reform programme, particularly with organisations that provide independent oversight of police behaviour and standards in detention.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Living Wage: Publicity

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what costs have been incurred by his Department for the current advertising campaign on the national living wage.

Nick Boles: The total budget allocated for the National Living Wage advertising campaign is £4.95 million. The campaign will run until the end of April and we expect to come in under budget. The Government’s new National Living Wage is a step up for working people, so it is important workers know their rights and that employers pay the new £7.20 from April 1 this year. Britain deserves a pay rise and as a One Nation Government we are making sure it gets one. The campaign will tell people about their entitlements and is targeted at employers, and workers currently earning the National Minimum Wage.

Living Wage: Publicity

Mr Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much was spent on each media type for 2016 Step Up to the Living Wage campaign.

Nick Boles: The total budget allocated for the National Living Wage advertising campaign is £4.95 million. The campaign will run until the end of April and we expect to come in under budget. A breakdown of anticipated costs for the National Living Wage campaign can be found in the table below: Advertising design and planning£497,571Poster advertising£751,612.69TV and video on demand(VOD)£1,730,387.70Social media advertising (combined budget)£354,000Digital display advertising and pay per click (PPC) £520,000Newspaper/magazine advertising£250,000National Living Wage website£21,860Other elements of the campaign (please specify)Radio: £299,826Evaluation £250,000 The Government’s new National Living Wage is a step up for working people, so it is important workers know their rights and that employers pay the new £7.20 from April 1 this year. Britain deserves a pay rise and as a One Nation Government we are making sure it gets one. The campaign will tell people about their entitlements and is targeted at employers, and workers currently earning the National Minimum Wage.

Game

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the value was to the UK economy of the game meat market in each of the last five years.

Anna Soubry: Official statistics are not broken down in sufficient detail in order to separate the value added and employment attached to the processing and sale of game-meat from that of other meat or poultry products.

Drugs: Foreign Investment in UK

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether he has had discussions with pharmaceutical companies based outside the UK on locating functions in the UK.

Anna Soubry: The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has overall responsibility for ensuring that the UK is an attractive place for overseas companies to set up or expand their business. In this context, the Secretary of State has had discussions with companies from a range of sectors, including in the life sciences sector.

Medicine: Research

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what financial assistance the Government has granted to medical companies for medical research.

Joseph Johnson: In the last five years, Innovate UK has committed over £212 million in support of companies commercialising medical research. This includes helping companies to deliver products and services to support people living independently, funding cost-effective treatments, the development of long-term relief and cures for diseases, and commercialising new medical devices, diagnostics and solutions.Additionally, Innovate UK, through its Catapult network, provides business access to leading-edge technology and expertise in Cell and Gene Therapy, Precision Medicine and Medicines Technologies.Companies investing in medical research may also be eligible for the Research and Development Tax Credit, which provided £1.75bn of support in 2013/14.

Minimum Wage

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to his Department's press release of 5 February 2016, New National Minimum Wage offenders named and shamed, whether HM Revenue and Customs follows up successful investigations into companies found not to have complied with national minimum wage legislation with additional investigations into whether other employees of the same company were also not in receipt of the national minimum wage.

Nick Boles: This Government is absolutely clear that anyone entitled to be paid the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and, from April 2016, the National Living Wage, should receive it. The Department for Business, Innovations and Skills (BIS) are responsible for the policy on NMW compliance and enforcement, and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) enforces the NMW Act on BIS’s behalf.HMRC responds to all worker complaints. Where NMW arrears are identified, HMRC ensures the employer corrects the position for all their workers and pays any outstanding arrears. HMRC carries out follow-up checks to ensure arrears have been paid. If subsequent issues are found HMRC will investigate and, if arrears are identified, take further action.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills: Sheffield

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of the closure of his Department's Sheffield office on the delivery of his Department's policies.

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect on his Department's policy expertise and experience in the development of (a) higher and (b) further education of the closure of his Department's Sheffield office.

Joseph Johnson: Subject to consultation, the Department intends to close the Sheffield office at St. Paul’s Place by January 2018. This intention is based on the strategic vision for the Department that seeks to save 30-40% of its operating costs, reduce the number of locations it operates from (from currently around 80 to 7 centres and a regional footprint for the provision of local services), and halve the number of its Partner Organisations by 2020. Intention is subject to consultation, to close the Sheffield office by January 2018. This gives us time to transition the policy roles affected.

Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is a mixed-competence agreement that will require ratification by the national parliaments of all EU member states.

Anna Soubry: We expect that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will be a “mixed” agreement, covering areas of both EU and Member State competence. In that case, it will be subject to agreement by each EU Member State, the EU Council and the European Parliament. As part of this process the agreement will be subject to Parliamentary scrutiny before it is ratified by the UK.

Department for Education

Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education

Sir David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2015 to Question 13645, what the names of each (a) head teacher and (b) school her  Department is currently working with to improve the provision of PSHE in schools; and if she will make a statement.

Sir David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2015 to Question 13645, what process was followed in the appointment of each headteacher to assist her Department on improving the provision of PSHE in schools; where each post was advertised; how many people applied for each such post; how many headteachers were short-listed for interview for those posts; whether consideration was given to each candidate's (a) political views and (b) views on (i) PSHE, (ii) contraception and (iii) abortion in the appointment process; how each candidate was appraised in that process; what criteria were adopted by each candidate; how many candidates for each such post were rejected; and if she will make a statement.

Sir David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2015 to Question 13645, how and by whom each (a) headteacher and (b) school was recommended; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Timpson: We selected these headteachers to work with us on this issue because of the high quality of provision of PSHE education in their schools. The group of headteachers and practitioners that we are currently working with includes Carl Ward of Haywood Academy in Stoke on Trent; Cathie Paine of the Reach2 Academy Trust; Jerry Rayner of Rugby Independent School in Warwickshire; Michelle Colledge-Smith of the Outwood Grange Academy Trust; and Vanessa Ogden of Mulberry School in Bethnal Green.The group has not been asked to advise the Government on the content of PSHE. Their focus is to produce an action plan and recommendations for improving the quality of PSHE teaching. We want to draw on expertise from a range of headteachers and practitioners and will invite others to join the group as appropriate. The Department regularly speaks to a wide range of stakeholders and will continue to do so regarding PSHE.

Vocational Guidance: Greater London

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations she has received from business organisations on the quality of careers information advice and guidance in (a) Lambeth and (b) Southwark; and how she has responded to those representations.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Holding answer received on 25 January 2016



We have engaged with many employers and their representative bodies, including the Confederation of British Industry and the British Chambers of Commerce, on the subject of careers education and guidance for young people. We are not aware of any specific representations on the quality of careers provision in Lambeth and Southwark.We want to spread excellent practice in careers education and employer engagement across the country so that every young person, regardless of background, can access the inspiration and guidance they need to prepare for working life. ‘London Ambitions’ is a great example of a collaborative approach which will transform the landscape of careers and employment support for young people in Lambeth, Southwark and other London boroughs. Commissioned through the London Enterprise Panel and London Councils, the report’s recommendations include at least 100 hours of experience of the world of work by the age of 16, comprehensive, up-to-date information on the jobs market in the capital and a ‘London Ambitions Careers Curriculum’ to help young people link their learning experiences to future success in the workplace.At a national level we have established The Careers & Enterprise Company which is connecting employees from firms of all sizes to schools through a network of enterprise advisers drawn from business volunteers. Working with key stakeholders, including employer representatives, we are developing a comprehensive strategy to outline this government’s plans for improving careers provision by 2020. This will be published in the spring of 2016.

Harperbury Free School

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, by what process her Department ensured the site secured for the proposed Harperbury Free School (a) was large enough and (b) met other requirements to be suitable for a secondary school with the capacity for up to 840 students and 70 staff.

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she was first made aware that the site initially secured for Harperbury Free School was too small for that school; and what steps she took in response to that information.

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Health on making more land available at the proposed site for Harperbury Free School to enable the planning application for that site to proceed with a site large enough to meet local planning officers' requirements.

Edward Timpson: Approval to build the school on the site is subject to the views of the Local Planning Authority. They first raised concerns, alongside a range of other concerns arising from its location in the Green Belt, to my officials in March 2015.Discussions between officials at both Departments did identify that two adjacent properties could be purchased to provide additional car parking. However, the nature of the sale of the remainder of the former hospital site to a residential developer meant that further land could not be released for the school. Even if additional land were made available, there remain substantial risks associated with developing this Green Belt site.

Harperbury Free School

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the letter from her Department to the Harperbury Free School governors of 17 November 2015, if she will make an assessment of the implications for housing and other planned developments in the catchment area of the proposed Harperbury Free School of the risk referred to in that letter that no suitable site can ever be found for that school.

Edward Timpson: Assessing the implications for housing and other developments is a matter for the Council rather than the Department.In order for planning permission to be granted for a site in the Green Belt, as is the case for the trust’s preferred site, the Local Planning Authority would have to accept that there is a strong need for a school in the locality of the identified site, which they do not.

Primary Education: Christchurch

Mr Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will place in the Library a copy of the application made by Twynham Learning Federation to establish a new primary academy in West Christchurch which is proposed to open from September 2016 and a copy of her response.

Edward Timpson: The Secretary of State is happy to make available the proposal by Twynham Learning Federation and also a copy of the decision letter signed by Sir David Carter, the former Regional Schools Commissioner for the South West. These documents will be published on the department’s website in May, along with other successful central free school applications.

Academies: Admissions

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 9 February 2016 to Question 25404, which of the (a) academies, (b) academies which were previously maintained schools and (c) free schools have been subject to complaints about admissions decisions.

Edward Timpson: Academies are responsible for setting and applying their own admission arrangements. This includes responsibility for making arrangements for appeals against the refusal of a school place. The information requested can be sought directly from the relevant academies.

Schools: Mental Health Services

Mr Nick Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of (a) primary and (b) secondary school budgets have been spent on tackling mental health problems in each of the last five years; and if the Government will take steps to protect such spending in future.

Mr Nick Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has allocated funding for primary and secondary schools to employ a dedicated mental health practitioner to provide services to pupils on site.

Mr Nick Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the rates of mental illness among school-age children.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The most recent prevalence survey estimated that 1 in 10 children have a diagnosable mental health disorder, and more have lower level problems. This is why the Government has made good mental health, character and resilience a high priority. The Department of Health is commissioning a new prevalence survey to update this estimate for a wider range of ages, from 2-19. It is due to report in 2018. We do not routinely collect data that allows us to measure the amount schools spend specifically on addressing mental health issues.We are committed to better understanding what schools are doing on this matter, which is why my department is commissioning an extensive survey. This survey will provide a robust national picture of mental health support provided by schools and colleges.It is for head teachers to determine how they spend their individual school budgets to best meet the needs of all their pupils. In the Spending Review we announced that the core schools budget will be protected in real terms through this Parliament. We are also protecting the Pupil Premium, which many schools use to fund mental health provision, at current pupil rates. Within these protections, we announced in December 2015 that an additional £92.5 million will specifically be provided in the high needs element of the Dedicated School Grant (DSG) next year.We have also made £1.4 billion available over the next five years to transform local children and young people’s mental health services to deliver more integrated and accessible services. Clinical Commissioning Groups have been required to work with others services locally, including schools, to produce plans that set out how they will transform children and young people’s mental health services locally to make them more accessible and increase the focus on prevention.We are also contributing to a £3 million joint pilot with NHS England for training single points of contact in schools and specialist mental health services, to ensure that children and young people have timely access to specialist support where needed. There are 22 pilot areas covering more than 200 schools across 27 CCGs.

Alcoholic Drinks and Drugs: Health Education

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to improve teaching in schools on the risks of drug and alcohol abuse.

Edward Timpson: Effective drug and alcohol education plays an important role in helping to ensure that young people are equipped with the information they need to make informed, healthy decisions and to keep themselves safe. Drugs education is a statutory part of the new national curriculum for science. Under the national curriculum pupils are taught about the effects of recreational drugs, including substance and alcohol misuse, on behaviour, health and life processes. Teaching in this area can be further strengthened through personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education. To improve the teaching of drugs and alcohol abuse, schools can access expert advice from the mentor-ADEPIS organisation on delivering effective alcohol and drug education in the classroom. The information can be found here: http://mentor-adepis.org

Schools: Immigrants

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make applications for EU structural funds for the purposes of alleviating pressure on school places caused by migration from other EU countries.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Government has no plans to make applications for EU structural funds to support investment in additional school places.We have committed £23 billion to create 600,000 new school places, open 500 new free schools and address essential maintenance needs between 2016 and 2021. This includes sufficient funding to create the places required between now and the 2021/22 academic year.

Faith Schools

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations she has received from faith schools on admissions and staffing policies in such schools; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Timpson: The Department greatly values the role of Church and other faith schools in our education system.Ministers and officials meet representatives of these schools on a regular basis to discuss a range of topics including staffing and admissions.

Academies: Pay

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) trustees and (b) directors of academies and academy chains are paid salaries in excess of £142,500.

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which academies and academy chains employ trustees and directors who are paid salaries in excess of £142,500.

Edward Timpson: The information is available about each academy trust in the notes to their financial statements which are published online by the Department for Education and at Companies House.

Playing Fields: Sales

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many state playing fields were sold in each year since 2010.

Edward Timpson: This government will only give local authorities and schools permission to dispose of school playing fields if the sports and curriculum needs of the school can continue to be met. All proceeds of any sales must be put back into improving sports or educational facilitiesIt is not the government or the department that instigates the disposal of school playing fields. It is the schools themselves and their local authorities that propose to convert these often surplus or unused fields to invest in school sport or education.Details of school playing field sales are not held centrally. Schools and local authorities only need to seek consent from the department to dispose of a school playing field. Disposal includes leasing to a third party provider. We have published a list of departmental decisions on applications for consent to dispose of school playing field land since May 2010, which can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-land-decisions-about-disposals

Foster Care

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what extra support is provided to foster carers receiving children who have experienced multiple placement breakdowns.

Edward Timpson: The statutory framework is clear that fostering services must provide carers with the necessary training, information and support, in the interests of children placed with them.Through the Children’s Services Innovation Programme, the Government continues to support the roll out of interventions such as KEEP (Keeping Foster and Kinship Carers Safe and Supported) and the Mockingbird Project. The Children’s Services Innovation Programme has £100m worth of funding and supports 53 programmes in the development, testing and spreading of more effective ways of supporting children and families who need help from children’s social care services. KEEP is a training programme for foster carers and part of the National Implementation Service, which has £4.1m worth of funding. The Mockingbird Project supports groups of ten foster carers around a ‘hub’ which provides support. This is part of the Fostering Network, which has £1.6m worth of funding. Both projects aim to increase the positive parenting skills of foster and kinship carers in responding to children's difficulties. They seek to build resilience, improve placement stability and enable young people to thrive as children and adults.

Foster Care: Mental Health

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what training on mental health awareness is provided to foster carers.

Edward Timpson: The statutory framework is clear that fostering services must provide carers with the training, information and support necessary in the interests of children placed with them.The Training, Support and Development (TSD) Standards provide a national post-approval training framework for what foster carers should know and understand. This includes knowing what ‘healthy care’ means for the mental health of young people, and how children develop relationships. My Department’s expectation is that fostering services should ensure that foster carers complete the training within 12-18 months of approval. The TSD Standards form part of the National Minimum Standards for foster care.

Children: Day Care

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the financial effect of the provision of the Childcare Bill on primary schools with nursery provision.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Childcare Bill delivers the government’s election manifesto commitment to give families where parents are working an entitlement to 30 hours of free childcare for their three- and four-year olds. Alongside other providers, primary schools, including free schools and academies, will play an important role in the delivery of this new entitlement from September 2017.Getting the funding right is essential for successful delivery. Together with the funding announced at Summer Budget, we will be investing over £1 billion per year by 2019-20 to fund this manifesto pledge. The funding includes £300 million for a significant uplift to the rate paid for the two-, three- and four-year old entitlements. We are also investing at least £50 million of capital funding to create additional places in nurseries and estimate a further 4,000 places will be created through new Free Schools.The government acknowledges that not all schools will be able to offer the full 30 hours entitlement themselves. Where that is the case, partnerships between schools and other providers, such as childminders, will allow parents to access their entitlement through their school. Partnerships like this already exist, and we will be drawing out lessons learned and good practice from them in order to help others to establish their own partnerships for the delivery of the 30 hours entitlement.

Carers: Young People

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to monitor implementation of the duties in the Children and Families Act 2014 on local authorities to (a) identify, (b) assess the needs of and (c) provide whole family support for young carers from April 2016.

Edward Timpson: Section 96 of the Children and Families Act 2014, which came into force in April 2015, imposes a duty on local authorities to to “…take reasonable steps to identify the extent to which there are young carers within their area who have needs for support.” Once a young carer has been assessed, the local authority must consider whether the child has needs that could be met by services provided under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, that is, whether they should be supported as a child in need.The Department currently supports the Carers Trust to help local authorities and voluntary sector partners to embed good practice, including good practice surrounding whole family support. This approach is intended to ensure effective, joined up, support with the potential to offer a single point of professional contact for young carers and their families. We will draw on the learning from that work when considering further action.

Internet: Bullying

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of criminalising cyber bullying.

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions her Department has had with social media providers on steps to combat cyber bullying.

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department has spent on steps to tackle cyber bullying in each of the last three years.

Edward Timpson: The Government continues to work closely with social media companies to make sure they are committed to protecting children who use social media platforms. Ministers from the Department for Education, the Department for Culture Media and Sport, and the Home Office meet quarterly with social media providers and other key stakeholders at the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) executive board meetings, to discuss important issues relating to child safety online, including cyberbullying.Recently, Ofcom led a social media working group on behalf of UKCCIS, with representation from Twitter, Facebook, Google, Ask.FM, and MindCandy. The group developed best practice guidance aimed at encouraging responsible practice from industry to ensure children using their services are able to do so in a safe and protected way. The guidance was issued by UKCISS in December 2015 and can be found on their website.To help schools prevent and tackle bullying, we are providing £1.3m this year (2015-16) to anti-bullying charities to tackle all forms of bullying including cyberbullying, on top of the £4m provided in 2013-15. We are also providing £2m this year (2015-16) to organisations to specifically tackle homophobic bullying, which includes cyberbullying.We do not want to make any form of bullying a criminal offence as to do so would risk criminalising young people. In some circumstances that may be justified, but probably only in a limited number of very serious cases, for which there are already laws in place to protect people. Internet providers, schools and parents all have a role to play in keeping children and young people safe online.The Government Equalities Office is funding the UK Safer Internet Centre to produce advice for schools on how to keep children safe online. This is scheduled for publication this spring.

Schools: Sports

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to improve links between schools and elite sports organisations.

Edward Timpson: The national curriculum sets out the expectation that pupils should be provided with opportunities to engage in a broad range of competitive sports and activities.Many national governing bodies of sports and elite sporting organisations offer a programme for schools, to engage children and young people in their sports. Through their school sports programme, the Premier League is currently working in over 4,000 schools to support the PE curriculum, provide sports clubs, and deliver enrichment activities. In October 2015, the Premier League announced that they will expand their schools offer to every primary school in the country within 6 years.The Department funds ‘On the Front Foot’, a programme designed and delivered by Premiership Rugby to develop character and resilience in primary and secondary schools across the country. The programme delivers classroom based and physical activity character building programmes to 17,250 pupils.The Football Association’s Skills programme is a nationwide football coaching programme working in over 1,000 primary schools a year, providing specialist football coaching for children and supporting teachers in their delivery of sport. Sessions are offered during PE lessons, extra-curricula clubs and holiday clubs.The Tennis Foundation and the Lawn Tennis Association support teachers with training, resource and equipment to help them deliver tennis in schools. Their aim is to increase access to tennis across schools, further and higher education through a wide range of programmes. They offer support to make tennis inclusive and accessible to all pupils. Over 60,000 primary, special and secondary school pupils take part in schools tennis competitions every year.The Rugby Football Union works with hundreds of maintained schools as part of its ‘All Schools Plan’ to help more secondary school children play rugby. This was launched by the RFU and the Rugby Football Foundation in 2012, as part of the RFU’s Rugby World Cup 2015 legacy plans.The School Games is the Government’s framework for competitive school sports. The programme provides a national final event where the most talented young people in the UK compete in 12 different sports. More than 150 of the athletes who competed at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow had previously competed at the School Games and 59 athletes claimed 84 medals.

Academies: Performance Standards

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to publish performance data for academy chains.

Edward Timpson: In March 2015 the Department published a consultative statistical working paper proposing performance measures for multi-academy trusts[1].In addition, the Department’s school performance tables now allow parents and others to more easily see which academies are within a multi-academy trust and the information for each academy, including their academic performance and Ofsted judgements[2].Ofsted also carries out focused inspections of groups of academies within multi-academy trusts and these outcomes are published[3].[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-in-academy-chains-and-las-performance-measures[2] http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/[3] http://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/local-authority-school-improvement-arrangements-inspections-and-focused-school-inspections

Children: Autism

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number of schools which have restricted the school trips which children with autism spectrum disorder can attend in each of the last five years.

Edward Timpson: The Department does not collect data on schools which have restricted the school trips that children with autism can attend.Public sector bodies, including maintained schools, are covered by the public sector equality duty under the Equality Act 2010. When carrying out their functions they must have regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, promote equality of opportunity and foster good relations between disabled and non-disabled children and young people. This duty is anticipatory, which means that schools must take into account the needs of disabled pupils, such as those with autism, when planning school trips and other events.The Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0-25 emphasises that school leaders should establish and maintain a culture of high expectations that expects those working with children and young people with SEN or disabilities to include them in all the opportunities available to other children and young people so that they can achieve well. This would include opportunities to socialise and attend external school trips.If parents believe that a school has discriminated against their autistic child in planning school trips, they can make a claim for disability discrimination to the First-tier Tribunal.

Pupil Exclusions: Mental Illness

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of pupils who were (a) permanently and (b) temporarily excluded from school were recorded as having mental health conditions in each of the last five years.

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of pupils in Years 10 and 11 were (a) permanently and (b) temporarily excluded from school had autism spectrum disorder in each of the last five years.

Edward Timpson: The number of pupils recorded as having a mental health condition who received a permanent or fixed period exclusion is not held by the Department.The number and proportion of pupils in national curriculum year group 10 and 11 with an autistic spectrum disorder primary need who were excluded in each of the last 5 years can be found in the attached table.Information on the number of fixed period and permanent exclusions for all pupils, including separate breakdowns by national curriculum year group and special educational need provision, is available in the ‘Permanent and fixed-period exclusions in England’ National Statistics release[1].[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-exclusions

Schools: Property Transfer

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2016 to Question 25804, what the two sites are that are being considered for disposal within the Greater Manchester Combined Authority area.

Edward Timpson: Until a decision has been made, the Department does not wish to name both schools in order to protect the Secretary of State’s decision making powers when considering whether to give consent.

Free School Meals: Costs

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost has been of provision of free school meals by region in each of the last three years.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Schools in England fund free school meals out of the overall resources available to them. Since September 2014, all infant pupils in maintained schools in England have been entitled to free school meals, regardless of parental income. The government does provide specific funding to schools to pay for meals for infant pupils who are not eligible for benefits-related FSM. The breakdown of this funding is available at school level for financial year 2014-15 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-infant-free-school-meals-uifsm-provisional-funding-allocations-2014-to-2015; and for financial year 2015-16 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-infant-free-school-meals-uifsm-funding-allocations-2015-to-2016.

Ministry of Justice

Magistrates' Courts

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many magistrates' courts opened in each local justice area in each year since 2010.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The tables below show magistrates’ courts that have opened since 2010. Each of these new courts replaced multiple smaller facilities, providing modern and efficient premises in place of buildings which were unfit for purpose.2011Westminster Magistrates Court 2012Aberystwyth Justice CentreChelmsford Magistrates CourtColchester Magistrates CourtNewport Magistrates Court It is not possible to present the above sites by their local justice areas as many local justice area boundaries change over time.

Ministry of Justice: Information Officers

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many press and public relations staff are employed by (a) his Department, (b) HM Courts and Tribunal Service, (c) HM Prison Service, (d) the Legal Aid Agency and (e) the National Offender Management Service; how many of those employees are paid more than (i) £50,000 and (ii) £100,000; and what the total expenditure was on press and public relations by each of those organisations in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Mike Penning: The Ministry of Justice including the National Offender Management Service employs a total of 42 staff within the external communications division. Of those, eight are paid more than £50,000. The total spend on external communications during 2014/15 was £1,914,806. The total number of staff is less than that in 2009/2010 even though the function has additional responsibilities such as strategic communications, campaigns, stakeholder communications and a wider spread of digital communications activities. The Legal Aid Agency shares services with the Ministry of Justice, and consequently has no separate spend on press and public relations. HM Courts and Tribunals Service operate a separate press office function employing a total of 3 staff, one of which is paid more than £50,000. The total HMCTS spend 2014/15 was £161,331. Spend on external communications continues to fall and we will look for further savings where possible. As one of the biggest departments responsible for prisons, courts and other issues of national importance such as human rights we have a duty to explain our work to the public.

Prisoner Escapes

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been charged with trying to escape from a prison van in each of the last five years; and how many such people have avoided recapture.

Andrew Selous: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) does not hold data about the number of people charged with trying to escape from vehicles operated by NOMS or by contractors.NOMS has implemented a range of measures in recent years to improve the security surrounding prisoners on escort. Between 2010-11 and 2014-15, 23 prisoners escaped from vehicles operated by NOMS or by contractors. All were re-captured.Overall, the number of escapes from prison escorts almost halved from 102 between 2005-06 and 2009-10, to 59 between 2010-11 and 2014-15.The table below gives the numbers and details of the escapes for each of these years.Escapes from escorts while entering or leaving vehicles1 or en route to or from venue   Response2010/112011/122012/132013/142014/15ENTERING VEHICLE00022LEAVING VEHICLE01110VEHICLE EN ROUTE FROM VENUE02010VEHICLE EN ROUTE TO VENUE16132TOTAL19274  (1) Vehicles primarily refer to prison vans used for escorting prisoner but do include other vehicle types The table below provides information about escapes which have taken place from prison escort and private escort contractors from 2005/06 to 2014/15. The table includes escapes from courts but not those escapes of less than 15 minutes’ duration and covers the full duration of the escort process.KPI Escapes1 from Prison Escort2 and from Private Escort Contractors (PECS)3 from 2005/06 to 2014/152005 /062006 /072007 /082008 /092009 /102010 /112011 /122012 /132013 /142014 /15KPI Prison Escorts Escapes8624312021KPI Contracted Out Escort (PECS) Escapes171916151210139912KPI Category A Escapes during Escort------1---   1) The definition of a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Escape if (i) the prisoner is at liberty for 15 minutes or more before recapture or (ii) a prisoner escapes and is charged with another criminal offence.2) Escaping the control of escorting prison service staff.3) Escapes from the secure vehicles or supervision of contracted prison escorts. This includes escapes from court where contracted prison escort staff have been notified.

Ministry of Justice: Information Officers

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many press and public relations staff are employed by (a) his Department, (b) HM Courts and Tribunal Service, (c) HM Prison Service, (d) the Legal Aid Agency and (e) the National Offender Management Service; how many of those employees are paid more than (i) £50,000 and (ii) £100,000; and what the total expenditure was on press and public relations by each of those organisations in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Mike Penning: I refer the honourable member to the answer which I gave in PQ 21339, answered on 23rd February 2016.

Legal Aid Scheme

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications for Exceptional Case Funding there were in 2015; and how many of those applications were successful.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The Legal Aid Agency publishes this information as part of its official statistics, the most recent edition of which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2015.Statistics covering the final quarter of 2015 will be published in due course.

Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission

Constituencies: West Yorkshire

Craig Whittaker: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, when he expects the Local Government Boundary Commission for England to next review the (a) ward and (b) councillor arrangements in metropolitan districts in West Yorkshire.

Mr Gary Streeter: The Local Government Boundary Commission for England informs me that arrangements for both wards and councillors are recommended through its electoral review procedure.The Commission further informs me that Leeds City Council is in the early stages of an electoral review to consider the number of councillors elected to the authority in the future and the ward boundaries which will accommodate those elected members. None of the other metropolitan districts in the West Yorkshire area are part of the Commission’s programme of electoral reviews for the next twelve months. The Commission’s programme of reviews for the following year will be agreed in autumn 2016.There are three reasons why a local authority could become part of the Commission’s programme of electoral reviews. First, the Commission assesses levels of electoral inequality across all local authorities in England on an annual basis. Where the Commission determines that there are high levels of variances between wards or electoral divisions, namely where some councillors represent many more – or many fewer – voters than the average for the authority, it will initiate an electoral review to address the imbalances.The Commission will also carry out a review at the request of a local authority. Since 2011, the Commission has carried out 48 electoral reviews of councils that have asked the Commission to intervene. The majority of requested reviews have been initiated by authorities that have asked the Commission, in particular, to consider the total number of councillors elected to the council.Thirdly, the Commission will intervene where it believes that an electoral review will help an authority deliver effective local government. Such reviews have been conducted in Stoke-on-Trent, Doncaster and – currently – in Birmingham where an independent report recommended that an electoral review should take place.

Church Commissioners

Queen Elizabeth II: Anniversaries

Henry Smith: To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, what plans the Church of England has to mark the 90th birthday of Her Majesty the Queen.

Mrs Caroline Spelman: The Church of England will mark the 90th birthday of Her Majesty with a large number of events and activities at national and local levels, including a national service of celebration at St Paul’s Cathedral. Alongside these events, the Bible Society and HOPE have released a companion book titled “The Servant Queen”, with a foreword written by Her Majesty that discusses how her faith has influenced her service of this nation over the last 90 years.

Church Commissioners: Pay

Mr David Hanson: To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, what the average hourly earnings for their (a) female and (b) male (i) full-time and (ii) part-time employees was in each of the last five years.

Mrs Caroline Spelman: The following information relates to employees of the Church of England's National Church Institutions (NCIs). Senior salaries, gender and race information are published each year in the annual reports of Archbishops’ Council, Pensions Board and Church Commissioners.Women make up 55% of the total workforce and hold just over 40% of the roles at a senior level. Most roles fit into a pay banding structure which pays the same for equivalent jobs in each band. The equal pay draft regulations have just been published and the NCIs will be reporting in line with the requirements when they have been passed into law. Clergy officeholders, as distinct from employees, are paid a stipend rather than a salary. For information female and male Bishops in office receive the same level of stipend. All other clergy officeholder stipends are based on a national stipend benchmark which is set by post and is the same for female and male clergy in each diocese.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

World War I: Anniversaries

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to help members of the public to attend First World War centenary events held in 2016 in (a) Orkney, (b) Manchester and (c) Thiepval.

David Evennett: The commemorative events in Orkney, Manchester and Thiepval are focal points for the nation to remember those who fought and died at the Battles of Jutland and the Somme. Ensuring that the public can be part of each one is at the heart of our plans, whether that's the thousands of people who will be able to attend or the very many more who will follow events through live broadcasts or media coverage. A public ballot for Thiepval tickets was launched on 1 July 2015, with people able to register their interest. This attracted significant media attention at a national and regional level. We have also reached out to Jutland descendants to be part of events in Orkney and had a great response. In due course we will let the public know how to take part in UK events marking the Somme, including those to be held in Manchester. We have been clear that transport and accommodation is the responsibility of attendees - however, we are working closely with tour operators and other travel companies to ensure there are a wide range of options. For example, Eurostar has agreed to provide a dedicated train to a non-Eurostar stop for on-the-day travel to the Thiepval event. In addition, there are regular rail and coach services between the UK and France and a variety of accommodation options to suit all budgets. Those with tickets can get up to date information and ask questions via our dedicated somme2016.org website.

Social Rented Housing: Broadband

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that social housing tenants who would like superfast broadband can access connections; and if he will make a statement.

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many residences classified as social housing (a) do not have access to superfast broadband, (b) have connections slower than 10 Mbit/s and (c) have connections slower than 2Mbit/s; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The Government is on target to deliver access to superfast broadband for 95% of all UK premises - including social housing - by December 2017, and to extend coverage beyond that as far as possible. We do not hold a breakdown of this information by housing tenure centrally, however this investment is benefiting all types of housing, as well as businesses, and we are proud to be delivering on this critical piece of infrastructure as set out in our manifesto. Currently, superfast broadband is available to almost 90 per cent of homes and businesses in the UK - up from 45 per cent in 2010. Around 5 per cent of UK homes and business are currently experiencing connection speeds below 10 Mbit/s. Having reduced the proportion of all UK premises with speeds less than 2 Mbit/s substantially from 11% in 2010 to around 1% in December last year, we have now implemented our commitment of having at least 2 Mbit/s per second basic broadband available to all homes and businesses.All premises which are not currently scheduled to get an increase in speed to at least this level are eligible for a subsidised satellite broadband service that can deliver speeds of 10Mbps or more. The Prime Minister has also announced the Government's intention to implement a new broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) which is set at 10 Mbit/s. This new broadband USO will give people the legal right to request an affordable broadband connection, at a reasonable cost threshold, no matter where they live. We will be consulting on these proposals shortly.

Telecommunications: EU Law

Drew Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what provisions the UK has adopted to comply with the new EU directive on measures to reduce the cost of deploying high-speed electronic communications networks; and how the UK plans to apply that directive in relation to new build homes.

Mr Edward Vaizey: DCMS is responsible for transposing the EU Broadband Cost Reduction Directive, and will produce regulations to ensure the Directive comes into force by 1 July 2016. The Directive will ensure that public communications networks can request information about a broad range of physical infrastructure that may be suitable for rolling out networks, and can request access to such infrastructure on fair and reasonable terms. There will also be enhanced transparency of planned civil works and a requirement to coordinate works funded through public means.

Public Libraries: Lancashire

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many local libraries closed in Lancashire in (a) 2012, (b) 2013, (c) 2014 and (d) 2015.

Mr Edward Vaizey: Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service that takes account of local needs within available resources. Government has the power to ensure public libraries comply with the law, and where individual authorities have failed to meet this duty we will - and have - intervened. While the Department for Culture, Media and Sport does not commission specific information relating to the closure of public libraries, the Department monitors closely proposed changes to library service provision throughout England. Desk research undertaken by the Department indicates that no local static libraries closed in the Lancashire Library Authority in 2012 - 2015. This Government is helping libraries innovate, to ensure they serve the needs of local communities - particularly through the expansion of their digital offer. In the latest spending round we secured extra funding for our Libraries Task Force, set up in 2015, to promote the role of digital and share best practice between councils, and we have funded the rollout of free Wi-Fi so that it will be available in 99% of public libraries in England. E-book loans have rocketed more than four-fold from nearly 445,000 in 2011/12 to over 2.3 million in 2014/15.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Domestic Visits

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many times the Minister of State for Culture and the Digital Economy has visited each region in the last year.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The Minister of State for Culture and the Digital Economy has visited the following local authorities since Feburary 2015: ​Southampton City Council, City of Cardiff Council, Norwich City Council, Ipswich Borough Council, Watford Borough Council, Northampton Borough Council, Corby Borough Council, Brighton & Hove City Council, Coventry City Council, Bristol City Council, Sheffield City Council, Hull City Council, City of York Council, Leeds City Council, Chichester City Council, Guildford Borough Council, Manchester City Council, Liverpool City Council, Peterborough City Council, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, and Birmingham City Council. DCMS ministers make sure to experience the excellent work being carried out by their sectors across the country, whilst balancing their parliamentary and departmental duties in Westminster.

BBC: Royal Charters

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many staff have been seconded to his Department to analyse responses to the BBC Charter Review consultation.

Mr Edward Vaizey: Given the number of responses, DCMS brought in additional resource into the BBC policy team. Based on demand, an average of 25 additional people per week supported the process to review the consultation responses, which included 19 staff seconded from other departments.

Public Libraries

Mr Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many public libraries have (a) closed and (b) opened in England since May 2010; and how many libraries which were previously run by professionally-qualified staff are now run by volunteers.

Mr Edward Vaizey: While the Department for Culture, Media and Sport does not commission specific information relating to the closure or opening of public libraries, or of libraries run entirely by volunteers, the Department does monitor closely proposed changes to library service provision throughout England. Based on desk research undertaken by the Department, we estimate that from January 2010 to January 2016 approximately 110 static public libraries in England closed and at least 77 new public libraries have opened, including relocations to new buildings.

Department for Work and Pensions

Supported Housing: Local Housing Allowance

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential effect on the availability of women's refuge services of the local rate of local housing allowance being applied to tenants in supported housing.

Justin Tomlinson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 11 January 2016 to Question UIN 20740

Ministry of Defence

Unmanned Air Vehicles

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2016 to Question 25293, whether his Department distinguishes between the proposed use of deployed platforms with capabilities for (a) high value targeting and (b) intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance.

Penny Mordaunt: With reference to the answer given by my predecessor to the hon. Member for West Bromwich East (Tom Watson) on 23 June 2014 (Official Report, column 99W) we do not distinguish between platforms with different capabilities.



Unmanned Air Vehicles
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Armed Forces: Young People

Ronnie Cowan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people under the age of 18 in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK were recruited to the armed forces in each of the last five years.

Penny Mordaunt: No information is held regarding the number of Service personnel under the age of 18 who were recruited in Scotland alone. The figures for the annual intake of under 18’s into the UK Regular Forces as a whole are summarised below. Ministry of Defence policy dictates that no-one under the age of 18 can join the Armed Forces without specific parental consent, both for the recruiting process to begin and again prior to joining; nor can they be deployed outside of the UK or to front-line operations.  2012201320142015Number of people recruited into the UK Regular Forces under the age of 182, 9202,2602,1302,180 Notes: Figures reflect intake for the 12 months ending 30 September in each year. Statistics for 12 months ending 30 September 2011 have not been published, however, statistics for 12 months ending 31 March 2011 are available in Tables 5 to 7 of the Annual Personnel Report: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/280426/1-april-2011.pdf A detailed breakdown, by age, of the intake to UK Regular Forces can be found in Tables 8 and 8a of our Biannual Diversity Statistics publication: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-armed-forces-biannual-diversity-statistics-2015

Ministry of Defence: Employment Agencies

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent on recruitment agency fees in each of the last six years.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has made payments to recruitment agencies in the last six years as follows: Calendar YearTotal Payments2010£120,9052011£143,7852012£283,7252013£372,9372014£583,0862015£121,879 This expenditure relates to recruitment to the permanent Senior Civil Service across the MOD, including the Trading Funds. It represents the costs of searches, advertisements, response handling, assessment and support to selection panels. The figures do not include expenditure on Contingent Labour, the process used to engage temporary staff through recruitment agency contracts. Generally, recruitment to the MOD for all grades below the Senior Civil Service is carried out by Defence Business Services who do not make use of external recruitment agencies when appointing MOD Crown Servants. This is not the case in Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), which is now a bespoke trading entity. Since 2013, DE&S has made use of agency support in recruiting staff in order to ensure it has access to suitably qualified and experienced personnel to fill specialist vacancies. DE&S expenditure is as follows: Calendar YearTotal Payments (£ million)20131.7520142.020150.5

Armed Forces: Civilians

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many civilian personnel were deployed in each operational theatre overseas in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Penny Mordaunt: In the last 12 months (13 February 2015 to 12 February 2016), 71 UK civil servants have deployed on behalf of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to provide direct support to military operations. A breakdown of locations is provided below. CountryNumber of UK civil servants deployed on behalf of the MODAfghanistan42Sierra Leone1United Arab Emirates14Bahrain2Qatar8Italy2United States of America2 Since June 2015, an average of 88 UK contractors has been deployed on military operations by the MOD at any one time. A total 12-month figure could not be provided as details of changes to individual post-holders are not held centrally, and information is not held for the period before June 2015. CountryAverage number of UK civilian contractors deployed by the MODAfghanistan36Gulf44Iraq6Nigeria2

Ministry of Defence Police

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will hold discussions with the Defence Police Federation on the (a) level of morale and (b) terms and conditions of service within the Ministry of Defence Police; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster: I met the National Chairman of the Defence Police Federation on 17 December 2015 to review the status of the ongoing negotiations on changes to Ministry of Defence Police terms and conditions of service. I would expect any issues associated with the morale of the Force to be raised and discussed at the Ministry of Defence Police Joint Consultative Committee that is chaired by the Chief Constable.

Home Office

Sleeping Rough

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the police take to ensure the safety of people sleeping rough.

Karen Bradley: The Government is committed to protecting the most vulnerable in society. One person without a home is one too many, which is why we will increase central investment over the next four years to £139 million for innovative programmes to prevent and reduce homelessness and rough sleeping.We also want to help local authorities provide advice and assistance to those at risk of homelessness which is why we have protected the homelessness prevention funding for local authorities through the provisional local government finance settlement, totalling £315 million by 2019-20.Decisions about frontline policing, and how resources are best deployed, are for Chief Constables and democratically accountable Police and Crime Commissioners. We have seen forces make significant changes to frontline policing to reflect the priorities of local people, including the most vulnerable. For example, several forces have established multi- agency teams to work collaboratively with other local public and voluntary sector services to tackle rough sleeping.

Asylum

Keir Starmer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department has made on developing the planned annual asylum strategy; and when she expects that strategy to be published.

Keir Starmer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans that the Government's proposed annual asylum strategy will include third-country asylum application processing arrangements for people who have attempted to claim asylum in the UK at port or in-country.

Keir Starmer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what consultations her Department has undertaken in developing the proposed annual asylum strategy; and whether her Department plans to undertake any consultation on that strategy after it is published.

James Brokenshire: Holding answer received on 10 February 2016



The asylum strategy will outline how we will focus our efforts on the most vulnerable refugees, and how we will take a tougher approach to those whose asylum claim is unfounded or could reasonably have been made in another country. This will include looking again at the end-to-end asylum process from upstream to in-country.We will publish the strategy annually, as set out in the Home Secretary’s party conference speech. There are no plans to run a formal consultation but officials are engaging with a range of partners in preparing the strategy.

Aviation: Immigration Controls

Mr David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many alerts were issued by the National Border Targeting Centre to the regional offices of Border Force relating to flights of potential interest in each of the last five years.

James Brokenshire: The National Border Targeting Centre issue alerts to both police and Border Force officials at the UK border. The figures provided record those alerts raised for Immigration or Customs reasons at the Border, and do not include any police alerts.In 2013 Border Force implemented a quality assurance procedure of Border Force alerts which were being disseminated to the frontline. You will see that in 2012, alerts steadily dropped. Alert ratios reduced due to a more stringent alert framework being adopted by the agency. Alerts were of a higher quality and specifically directed to manage the threat to the Border depending on the priorities of the Border Control Strategy and threat assessment.Year Alert count2011 16,6942012 15,8642013 11,0762014 10,5162015 10,167

Refugees: Children

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied child refugees in Europe the Government expects to relocate in 2016.

James Brokenshire: Holding answer received on 22 February 2016



My Written Ministerial Statement of 28 January set out the government’s plans to reinforce its response to refugee unaccompanied children from Syria, other conflict regions and within Europe. That included a commitment to work with partners, including the European Asylum Support Office, to help identify and support unaccompanied children on arrival in the EU. The government has also created a new fund of up to £10 million to support the needs of vulnerable migrant children in Europe.If an unaccompanied child claims asylum in a European country participating in the Dublin Regulation we will consider requests to take responsibility where there are close family members legally present in the UK. Unaccompanied minors already in Europe may also apply for family reunion under the Immigration Rules.We have asked the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to advise us on what more we can do to assist unaccompanied refugee children fleeing conflict and persecution in the Syrian region and more broadly across the globe. The number the UK will resettle will be dependent on the UNHCR’s assessment and whether it is in the child’s best interests and our capacity to absorb them.

Vetting: Greenwich

Matthew Pennycook: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what reports she has received from the Metropolitan Police in the Royal Borough of Greenwich of delays in processing Disclosure and Barring Service applications.

Matthew Pennycook: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications to the Disclosure and Barring Service from people living in Greenwich and Woolwich constituency have taken more than 60 days to process in the last 12 months.

Karen Bradley: The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) provides a formal monthly performance report to the Home Office and Home Office Ministers. This includes updates on the performance of police forces in meeting the Service Level Agreement (SLA) standards for the time taken to complete local disclosure checks.The DBS monitors the performance of all police disclosure units and works closely with any force, including the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) which is having difficulty in meeting its targets. An MPS Gold Group is overseeing the recovery plan in place at the MPS. London Boroughs do not operate their own disclosure units.The number of applications to the Disclosure and Barring Service from people living in Greenwich and Woolwich constituency that have taken more than 60 days to process in each of the last 12 months is listed in the table below.MonthTotal Disclosures Issued to Applicants from the Constituency of Greenwich and WoolwichDisclosures that took longer than 60 daysFebruary 2015 – January 201611,4461,688

Passports

Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to close the Collective Passport Service by the end of February 2016; and if she will make a statement.

Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to notify groups and organisations who may be affected by the potential closure of the Collective Passport Service.

Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of the proposed closure of the Collective Passport Office on the costs of obtaining passports for (a) school groups and (b) families.

Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the final decision was made to close the Collective Passport Service; and what discussions her Department has had with staff representatives on that closure.

James Brokenshire: Holding answer received on 22 February 2016



The future use of the Collective Passport is under review in the light of changing demand for the product and the security of the document. We are engaging with staff and other stakeholders and expect to make an announcement shortly.

Members: Correspondence

Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Wolverhampton South West of 14 December 2015 on the International Sikh Youth Federation, case reference ZA2442.

Mr John Hayes: I wrote to the hon. Member on 17 February 2016.

Terrorism: Greater London

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support the Metropolitan Police in tackling terrorism in London.

Mr John Hayes: Holding answer received on 22 February 2016



We have ensured the police have the necessary powers and resources to tackle the terrorist threat, including in London, where the Metropolitan Police play a leading role in tackling terrorism across the country.Counter-Terrorism Policing spending will be protected over the next Spending Review period. Indeed, for 2016/17 it will be increased in real terms to £670 million for England and Wales. An additional £34 million will also be provided to enable a national uplift in armed policing capability and capacity to respond more quickly and effectively to a firearms attack.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Floods: Cumbria

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of recent flooding and severe weather in Cumbria on livestock prices.

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect on the agriculture sector in Cumbria of recent flooding and severe weather.

George Eustice: Approximately 600 farmers in Cumbria suffered flooding as a result of Storm Desmond. Considerable damage has been done to stone walls, hedges and tracks. We have established a Farm Recovery Fund which enables farmers to claim grants of between £500 and £20,000 to cover the cost of restoring their farmland. The deadline for fund applications is 1 April 2016. While recognising the significant impact on those farmers affected, the overall impact on UK livestock prices and production is likely to be limited.

Flood Control: West Yorkshire

Jo Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has to ensure adequate funding of flood alleviation schemes planned for the River Spen in Cleckheaton and Liversedge.

Rory Stewart: The Environment Agency plans to undertake investigative work to identify and assess options to further reduce flood risk within the constituency. Depending on the outcome of this work, the Environment Agency has earmarked approximately £1 million of capital funding in the period 2021/22 for works to further reduce flood risk in Cleckheaton and Liversedge.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Pay

Mr David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the average hourly earnings of (a) female, (b) male, (c) full-time and (d) part-time employees of her Department were in each of the last five years.

George Eustice: The table below provides details of the average hourly earnings of each group of employees in the core-Department as at 30th June 2015 in each of the last five years. YearFemaleMaleFull-timePart-time2015£19.79£21.31£20.51£20.842014£19.36£21.43£20.32£20.802013£18.62£20.88£19.76£19.442012£18.23£20.94£19.64£19.042011£18.69£21.20£19.80£20.92  The difference in hourly rate of pay for male and female staff can be explained by a greater proportion of male staff at the higher grades. A recent equal pay review, analysing pay by grade, found that there were no significant equal pay differences based on gender.

Agriculture: Marketing

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will take steps to ensure that farming business is market-led rather than production-led.

George Eustice: The UK has some of the best farmers in the world, producing food to the highest standards of quality, safety, traceability and animal welfare. To make the most of this talent and quality, we need to work with farmers to raise our productivity and close the gap with some of our leading competitors. This means that we shall be supporting more UK businesses to sell their top quality produce around the world; trebling the number of apprenticeships in the food and drink industry to bring new skills and innovation; and reforming tax averaging and investment allowances to help farmers plan capital spending for the long term.Our new 25-year food and farming plan has been developed jointly with food and farming businesses. It will set a joint vision for increasing productivity, exports, resilience and consumer confidence, thereby boosting demand for British food and the contribution of farming to our economy.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Fringe Benefits

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff in her Department and non-departmental public bodies receive (a) home to work travel allowance, (b) a car allowance and (c) subsidised health insurance.

George Eustice: The following table sets out the number of staff in receipt of each type of allowance in 2014/15.  Home to Work TravelCarCore Department70Animal and Plant Health Agency1850Environment Agency82910Rural Payments Agency7914Total1,10024 Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Consumer Council for Water, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Marine Management Organisation, Natural England and Veterinary Medicines Directorate have no staff in receipt of these allowances. No staff were in receipt of subsidised health insurance. The Home to Work Travel Allowance mainly relates to staff receiving the Excess Cost of Travel Allowance (ECTA). This is paid as a result of ongoing estates rationalisation where the home to work commute for a staff member has increased because of an office closure or move. Where there is a requirement for a limited number of RPA managers to operate out of more than one location, RPA also pay home to work travel costs to ensure the individual is not disadvantaged as a result of business needs. The EA figure includes staff in receipt of Overtime Attendance Allowance which is a fixed amount that is paid when they are required to respond to an unplanned incident.

Agriculture: Weather

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to ensure the resilience of agriculture businesses in (a) Copeland and (b) Allerdale to respond to the effects of (i) Storm Desmond and (ii) future severe weather events.

George Eustice: We have been working closely with the NFU and other industry bodies to identify major problems, not only in Copeland and Allerdale, but across Cumbria, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Durham where exceptional rainfall added to ground which was already saturated. In response, we have provided grants and other support to help farmers restore their land through the Farming Recovery Fund. Farmers affected by flooding will be able to claim grants of between £500 and £20,000 to cover the cost of restoring their farmland. In restoring damaged features such as bridges, fences or cross drains, we are encouraging farmers to protect against the future by considering building in protection against future flood damage. They can do this by locating these in a position where they are less likely to be damaged in the future or can be (for example, in the case of bridges) raised to reduce the risk of water damage. If farmers consider relocating features within their field, they could save replacement costs in the future. We have also put in place in Cumbria a new partnership, which includes representatives of agriculture businesses, to develop an action plan to be published this summer. The action plan will cover a range of issues, such as what improvements may be needed to flood defences in the region; upstream options for slowing key rivers to reduce peak water flows, and ways of building stronger links between local residents, businesses, community groups and flood defence planning.

Floods: Insurance

Nigel Adams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish the names of all insurers which have Flood Re-compatible products available to consumers on the day of launch of the Flood Re-scheme before that day.

Rory Stewart: Flood Re is on target to start operating on 4 April. Flood Re will publish a list of participating insurers shortly before its launch.For the first time it offers the prospect of available and affordable flood insurance to households at high flood risk.The insurance market will continue to adapt after Flood Re is launched - it will be important for people to continue to shop around for the best deal.

Dredging

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what powers she intends to extend to farmers in relation to the dredging of watercourses on their land.

Rory Stewart: The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 were laid before Parliament on 2 February. Subject to parliamentary approval, from April the Regulations will remove a number of low risk activities from the need for a flood defence consent permit from the Environment Agency, enabling it to focus on the highest risk activities. This includes allowing farmers to maintain ditches up to 1.5km long subject to a number of conditions.

Flood Control

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her comments at the Oxford Farming Conference on 6 January 2016 on additional powers to internal drainage boards, what plans she has to give local authorities a role in the maintenance of local watercourses.

Rory Stewart: Local Authorities (LAs) have powers to carry out flood risk management works, including maintenance on ordinary watercourses, while the Environment Agency (EA) has powers to carry out work on main rivers. In addition, under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, flood risk management authorities may carry out work using the powers of other risk management authorities using public sector cooperation agreements. There are some excellent examples of LAs working in partnership with the EA and internal drainage boards, for example in Lincolnshire and Somerset.

Flood Control: Finance

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her comments at the Oxford Farming conference on 6 January 2016 on decentralising decision-making, what steps she plans to take to ensure funding to tackle flooding and the maintenance of flood defences is allocated fairly and transparently to local groups.

Rory Stewart: The Environment Agency allocates funding according to where it will have the most benefit to people and property using System Asset Management Plans for each of its flood defence asset systems. The Environment Agency discusses local maintenance programmes with local communities and groups like internal drainage boards. The Environment Agency publishes its maintenance programme online: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/river-and-coastal-maintenance-programme.

Animal Welfare: Circuses

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many licenses issued under the Welfare of Wild Animals in Travelling Circuses (England) Regulations 2012 are currently in force; and how many applications for such licenses for what reasons have been (a) granted, (b) refused, (c) suspended and (d) revoked in the last 12 months.

George Eustice: Under the Welfare of Wild Animals in Travelling Circuses (England) Regulations 2012 there are currently two licences in force. One of these licences was suspended for twenty days in December 2015. Applications for renewals of both of these licences have been received and are currently being considered.In May 2015, Defra also received an application for a licence from a further circus. As that circus subsequently decided not to tour in England in 2015 their application was discontinued without Defra making a decision whether to grant or refuse the application. In the last 12 months, no other applications for a licence have been received by Defra and no others have been refused, suspended or revoked.

HM Treasury

Business Premises Renovation Allowance

Stephen Doughty: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people who have used the Business Premises Renovation Allowance scheme have also been subject to investigation by HM Revenue and Customs for tax avoidance or tax evasion.

Stephen Doughty: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what total value of tax relief has been granted under the Business Premises Renovation Allowance scheme in each of the last six years.

Stephen Doughty: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when the Business Premises Renovation Allowance scheme is planned to close.

Mr David Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not collate information at the aggregate level requested. The Business Premises Renovation Allowance (BPRA) is an incentive designed to bring derelict or unused business properties back into use, by providing 100 percent relief for renovation of vacant properties in disadvantaged areas. In 2012 HMRC noticed a spike in the cost of BPRA. Investigations revealed that this increase was due to marketed avoidance. HMRC challenges avoidance wherever they see it. Where taxpayers choose to press their case to litigation, HMRC wins around 80% of cases heard in court. In addition, legislation was introduced in Finance Act 2014 to prevent future avoidance. The NAO complimented the speed with which HMRC addressed this avoidance and tightened the legislation. The costs of BPRA are published annually in HMRC’s Estimated cost of minor tax allowances and structural reliefs, which can be viewed using the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/487097/Dec15_minorallowances_reliefs_Fi...pdf Budget 2011 announced that Business Premises Renovation Allowance would be extended to 31 March 2017 for Corporation Tax and 5 April 2017 for Income Tax.

Temporary Employment: Taxation

Stephen Timms: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will reform taxation arrangements for temporary and contract workers to ensure that they are equitable in comparison with those of direct employees.

Stephen Timms: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Work and Pensions on ensuring equitable tax arrangements for flexible and contract workers.

Mr David Gauke: The taxation of temporary and contract workers’ income will depend on their employment status for tax, as is the case for direct employees and the self-employed. Decisions about tax policy are made by Treasury ministers. However, as recommended by the Office of Tax Simplification, officials from HM Treasury, HM Revenue and Customs, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will form a Cross Government Working Group for Employment Status early this year.

Dorneywood: Official Hospitality

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, which guests have (a) visited and (b) stayed at Dorneywood House since 7 May 2015.

Harriett Baldwin: This Government regularly publishes more information on the use of official residences and ministerial meetings than under previous Governments. Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial and senior official meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/senior-officials-expenses

Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme

Chris White: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses accessed the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) in 2014-15; what the cost of SEIS was to his Department in that year; and what the return on investment was for the economy as a result of the SEIS.

Mr David Gauke: The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) is forecast to cost the Exchequer £180m in 2014-15. Outturn figures for 2014-15 are not yet available. Updated figures on the cost of the relief will be published in December 2016. The first official statistics on the number of companies raising funds, number of subscriptions, and amounts raised for Seed Enterprise Investment Schemes for 2014-15 will be published in April 2016. No results have been published on the return on investment from the SEIS.

Scottish Fiscal Commission

Mr Christopher Chope: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the implications are for the Government's policy on balanced budgets of the decision of the Scottish Government not to enhance the powers of the Scottish Fiscal Commission; and if he will make a statement.

Greg Hands: The Treasury is continuing to discuss all elements of the fiscal framework with the Scottish Government, including the Scottish Affairs Committee’s recommendation that economic forecasting for the Scottish government should be done by a body independent of government. The UK government remains optimistic that a deal can be reached that is fair for taxpayers across the UK.

Treasury: Financial Conduct Authority

Mr David Hanson: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many Financial Conduct Authority staff are (a) seconded to his Department and (b) work in the private office of each Minister of his Department.

Harriett Baldwin: HM Treasury currently has 3 secondments in from the Financial Conduct Authority. None of these work in any ministerial private office.

Department for Energy and Climate Change

Department of Energy and Climate Change: Fringe Benefits

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many staff in her Department and non-departmental public bodies receive (a) home to work travel allowance, (b) a car allowance and (c) subsidised health insurance.

Andrea Leadsom: There are no staff in core DECC in receipt of a home to work travel allowance, a car allowance or subsidised health insurance.There are no staff in DECC’s Arms Length Bodies (ALBs) in receipt of a home to work travel allowance or subsidised health insurance.Across DECC’s ALBs, 87 people are in receipt of a car allowance.

Housing: Energy

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking to assist people living in low-income households to improve energy-inefficient properties.

Andrea Leadsom: Holding answer received on 22 February 2016



A reformed domestic supplier obligation (ECO) from April 2017, which will run for 5 years, will upgrade the energy efficiency of over 200,000 homes per year tackling the root cause of fuel poverty. Our extension of the Warm Home Discount to 2020/21 at current levels of £320m per annum will also help vulnerable households with their energy bills.We intend to focus our efforts through ECO and the Warm Home Discount more effectively on the fuel poor, and will be consulting on our future approach in the spring.

Department of Energy and Climate Change: Pay

Mr David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the average hourly earnings of (a) female, (b) male, (c) full-time and (d) part-time employees of her Department were in each of the last five years.

Andrea Leadsom: The average hourly earnings of (a) female, (b) male, (c) full-time and (d) part-time employees of DECC for each of the last five years are set out in the table below: Year Average hourly earnings (£)FemaleMaleFull-timePart-time201123.8025.8024.7025.70201223.8025.8024.7026.00201322.8025.8024.3025.40201423.3025.5024.4025.40201523.2025.7024.3026.80

Nuclear Reactors: Thorium

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what plans the Government has to support research and development in the use of thorium reactor technology in (a) the UK, (b) the EU and (c) worldwide.

Andrea Leadsom: The UK has been supporting research and development into the use of thorium nuclear fuels since such fuels were used in the Dragon reactor at Winfrith in the 1960s and 1970s.Examples of current activity on thorium and related technologies include academic research into thorium fuelled reactor systems and fuel cycle processes through Research Council grants to UK universities; collaboration on thorium fuels, via the UK Research Councils’ Energy Programme, with national nuclear energy programmes of other countries on safety, performance and non-proliferation; experimental development of thorium fuels through the UK’s National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) and private sector organisations, as part of international consortia, and thorium fuel modelling and fuel cycle scenario analysis by the NNL. These activities cover UK, EU and worldwide initiatives and receive either financial or strategic support from the Government. The Government plans to continue a similar approach to support future research and development in the use of thorium as a nuclear reactor fuel.

Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme: Solar Power

Matthew Pennycook: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what plans she has to support solar thermal systems in the domestic and non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive.

Andrea Leadsom: Holding answer received on 22 February 2016



We intend to reform the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) to improve value for money and reduce costs; improve cost control and budget management; and ensure the scheme focuses more on our long-term needs, while contributing to both our carbon and renewable energy targets. We plan to consult on the changes shortly. Therefore, I am unable to make specific commitments as to the future shape of the scheme at this point.

Cabinet Office

Infrastructure: Iron and Steel

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what incentives are in place to encourage major infrastructure projects to use steel manufactured in the UK.

Matthew Hancock: Holding answer received on 22 February 2016



The Government is committed to addressing any barriers that prevent UK steel suppliers from competing effectively for public sector contracts.The Government adopted new rules on public procurement last year to offer greater flexibility around social and economic considerations, alongside best value for money, in Government procurement activities.In line with this, all departments are required to implement new guidelines, which we published on 30 October, on how government buyers should source steel for major projects so that the true value of UK steel is taken into account in major procurement decisions.

House of Commons Commission

Parliament: Cycling

Diana Johnson: To ask the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2015 to Question 2241, what the reasons are for there being no assessment undertaken of the safety implications of excluding cyclists from the Northern Entrance to the parliamentary estate; and if he will review that policy to take account of the forthcoming opening of the segregated cycle superhighway along the Embankment.

Tom Brake: A generic risk assessment for the movement of pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles around the Parliamentary Estate was undertaken in August 2015; the assessment considered the risk of collisions between vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians. A dedicated cycle entry gate has been installed at Derby Gate as this entrance has the width to allow safe vehicle, cycle and pedestrian access, whereas the Northern Entrance does not. This is under constant review by the relevant House Authorities.An assessment of the implications for both vehicle and bicycle entry at the Northern Entrance is planned to be conducted to reflect the construction of the East-West Bicycle Superhighway. The results will be reported to the hon. Lady by the Serjeant at Arms, once the work is complete.

BBC Parliament: Hearing Impairment

Mark Pritchard: To ask the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, if the Commission will discuss with the BBC Parliament channel improving the provision of (a) subtitles and (b) an in-vision interpreter for hearing impaired people.

Tom Brake: The audience share for BBC Parliament is below the Ofcom threshold for Access Service provision. However, we have committed to subtitling 100% of live Commons on the channel by 2019. We will reach this figure by increasing the amount of subtitling by 5% each year and this year will subtitle 85% of live Commons sittings.The year to date figure for the total provision of subtitling on BBC Parliament against the total broadcast hours of the channel is 12.05%.

Department of Health

Nursing and Midwifery Council

Paula Sherriff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Nursing and Midwifery Council on extension of their remit to include root cause analysis of complaints and investigations.

Ben Gummer: In 2015-16, Health Ministers have not met the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) specifically to discuss extending its remit to include root cause analysis of complaints and investigations. However, Ministers do keep the issue of professional regulation under regular review and the Department has frequent discussions with professional regulators, including the NMC. Such discussions can cover a range of subjects including complaints handling and fitness to practise (FtP) processes. The NMC has a statutory duty to investigate if an allegation is made that a nurse or midwife does not meet its professional standards and, where necessary, to take action to safeguard the health and well-being of the public. Such investigations do not extend to investigating concerns, or their root cause, beyond determining the FtP of the individual registered nurse or midwife involved. The NMC reports that it works closely with other regulatory bodies, such as the Care Quality Commission and shares information that raises systemic concerns. As part of its 2015-20 strategy the NMC committed to sharing its data with other bodies responsible for quality and safety and to make anonymised data available to third parties where appropriate.

Doctors: Training

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of the doctors applying to Round 1 for Speciality Training posts commencing in the period August to December 2016 applied directly from Foundation Year Two.

Ben Gummer: The information is not currently available. Analysis of training application numbers is carried out by Health Education England (HEE) once recruitment rounds have been completed. HEE will publish the data once this work is complete via the UK Foundation Programme Office (UK FPO) annual reports. The 2015 annual report is available on the UK FPO Website: http://www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk/download.asp?file=FP_Annual_Report_2015_-_FINAL.pdf The appointments to specialty or general practice are self-declared by the doctors in response to the survey and are not verified against recruitment data.Whilst the survey is a fairly accurate predictor of the destination of doctors who have completed foundation training the figures are not intended to be an accurate employment record.

Nurses: Northern Ireland

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with NHS trusts in England on costs of the practice of sourcing nurses from Northern Ireland to cover weekend shifts.

Ben Gummer: No discussions have taken place between my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and National Health Service trusts on the costs of sourcing nurses from Northern Ireland to cover weekend shifts. NHS organisations are best placed to decide how many staff they employ and how best to recruit those staff to meet services tailored to the needs of their patients and local communities, to deliver safe care.